A young Robert Iler had Tony Sirico looking after him while co-starring in the hit Noughties drama The Sopranos.
In a recent episode of The Sopranos podcast Pod Yourself a Gun, hosted by comedians Matt Lieb and Vince Mancini, Iler, who played AJ Soprano, spoke about the way Sirico protected him as a young actor in Hollywood.
The actor said that this sense of protection extended to school, where he thought: “Oh, this kid thinks he’s gonna mouth off to me?
Sirico, who played mobster Paulie “Walnuts” in the HBO series, died aged 79 last week at an assisted living facility in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.